Nation and The World

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) is turning up the heat on Justice Clarence Thomas based on new information that builds upon previous reports of his alleged ethical lapses.

In late September, Slaughter had sent a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States to request official action on Thomas’ multiyear failure to disclose his wife’s income from various conservative think tanks and activist organizations. The Judicial Conference is the principal policy-making and administrative body for the federal court system.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A federal jury acquitted a prominent Maryland state senator Tuesday of corruption charges alleging he accepted more than $245,000 to advocate for a grocery store chain while he was chairman of a powerful budget committee.

(GIN) - Allegations of corruption and the massive looting of state funds are being leveled at another African leader who, with his son, faces charges in France and the U.S.

The U.S. Justice Dept. this week filed suit against Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, eldest son of President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. The long-awaited suit seeks forfeiture of $70.8 million obtained through corruption and money laundering, it was alleged.

Activists say African nations must come forward and take advantage of U.S. military advisers sent to Central African to help eliminate the LRA rebel threat. President Obama recently approved the use of military advisers to help search for LRA leader Joseph Kony and his fighters.

In these days of high unemployment and growing financial insecurity, the last thing African-American families need is a serious threat to the only guaranteed, lifelong source of income the majority of our families count on. It took too many years and too much blood, sweat, and tears for African-American families to secure a place among America’s middle class. I’m talking about the current threat to one of the most successful programs in U.S. history – Social Security. Social Security is much more important to African Americans than many realize.

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial stands in tribute to Dr. King’s enduring message of hope, non-violence, and the tireless pursuit of justice. Through his perseverance and moral leadership, Dr. King helped make our nation, which had been painfully divided into separate and unequal parts, whole.

“Dr. MLK with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals, a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union more perfect… If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there; that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company’s union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain,” commented President Barack Obama.

(Washington, DC) – The NAACP has released the following statements from Chairman Roslyn M. Brock and NAACP President CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous regarding the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial:

“Few people shaped our culture and our nation in the 20th century more than Dr. King,” stated Chairman Brock. “His legacy of social justice and activism has played an integral role in so much of what we take for granted today. However, his most enduring gift may be the faith that he had in the next generation to continue his mission. I am proud to be part of the enduring civil rights struggle in this country.”

Rev. Al Sharpton, flanked by nearly a dozen civil and labor rights leaders, has announced a national march to call on Congressional support of President Obama’s new jobs bill on the eve of the King Monument dedication.

“The other night, President Obama, in his address to the CBC, said that it is time to start marching again. Well, those feet will be marching October 15. Those of us that believe that it is necessary to raise the level of drama for those that have been left out of the conversation will be marching together on that day,” Sharpton said at a Sept. 28 press conference at the National Press Club.